All posts tagged: chef

Hippocrates was onto something when he said, “Food is medicine.” At least in the eyes of Lorraine Walsh and a growing population of Americans.

Walsh has a dream of combining her love of food with her experience as a registered nurse, and she knows it takes just the right ingredients to make anything successful – whether its food, business concepts or healthy bodies.

Her business concept? “Gloucester’s Good Life Kitchen,” a business that would marry her passion for food and cooking with hospitality and healthy foods. Meaning, no pesticides, lots of organic and a real farm-to-table feel. Think, home-style foods, but redone. Guests could still order chicken and dumplings, but healthier. Order meatloaf, but better.

Walsh is vying to be one of three prospective business owners selected from a pool of local entrepreneurs to share a combined value of $95,000 in goods, services and start-up capital to launch a business on Main Street. The Launch Gloucester program is part of Gov. Terry McAuliffe’s Virginia Community Business Launch initiative and is locally overseen by Gloucester Main Street Preservation Trust and Gloucester Main Street Association.

Walsh is a 1993 graduate of the Culinary Institute of America, and also earned her degree in Restaurant Management from SUNY Farmingdale in New York. She’s apprenticed and worked in kitchens all over the place, including New York City, Florence, Italy and France.

“I was motivated to participate in this competition because the assistance of the program, like marketing, business coaching and a location, is the perfect storm of all the right ingredients,” said Walsh. “These things, combined with a good idea, have the best chances for success.”

And it’s the sense of community, said Walsh, that makes Main Street feel so much like home and why it would be the perfect place to open a business.

“Even if my name isn’t called Tuesday night at the Announcement Party, I have a solid plan and people who are interested in seeing me succeed,” she said. “I’m thrilled I was chosen as a participant.”

User StephFood As Medicine, and Lorraine Walsh Has the Prescription05.13.2015

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Retail Alliance’s educational arm, the Center for Retail Excellence, has partnered with Gloucester Main Street Preservation Trust to launch a Certificate in Retail Operations, available to all retailers in Gloucester and surrounding areas.